Samsung Electronics which in 2017 vowed to make foundry business No. 2 in the world achieved the goal in less than two years as it is expected to finish the first quarter with its share in the consigned chip market stretching by more than five times.

According to market research firm TrendForce on Wednesday, Samsung Electronics’ foundry revenue is estimated at $2.78 billion in the quarter ending March, down by 14.4 percent from a year ago in line with a 16 percent estimated fall in the global foundry market to $14.6 billion.

Samsung Electronics which spilt up its foundry operation in 2017 with ambition to nurture it as No. 2 realized the milestone as rivals suffered more. Its share in the foundry market soared to 19.1 percent from 3.7 percent in the end of 2016.

The foundry revenue includes shipment ordered from the company’s System LSI under Device Solution business. The sales drop was attributed to slow demand in the IT market following trade war between the U.S. and China that erupted last summer and the spread of protectionism globally. Other headwind factors include stagnant sales of smartphones that heavily rely on foundry suppliers, and a slump in the cryptocurrency mining.

Taiwan’s pure-play TSMC still took home half of the global orders despite a 17.8 percent decline in sales to $7.02 billion.

Samsung Electronics was followed by UMC (7.2 percent), SMIC (4.5 percent), TowerJazz (2.1 percent), Powerchip (1.7 percent), VIS(1.5 percent), Hua Hong Semiconductor (1.5 percent) and Dongbu HiTek (0.9 percent).

By Yong Hwan-jin and Minu Kim

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